If you ask Scott Newland what led him to his position as vice president and general manager of the Burns & McDonnell Chicago office, he'll trace it back to a conversation he had within his first few months as an employee-owner in 1999.

"I'm lucky to have mentors like Walt Womack (the recently retired president of the Transmission & Distribution division, see Profile here) and Gary Pence (another former T&D officer) and Brett Williams (senior vice president and general manager of the New England office), who have all promoted having an entrepreneurial spirit," Newland says. "Early on, I remember sitting with Gary and telling him that I wanted an opportunity to do something different, such as a field assignment."

That conversation resulted in a "six-month" assignment in Virginia that lasted two years. There Newland met Christina, now his wife and mother of their three girls.

In 2004, back at the Kansas City world headquarters, Newland became project manager for the underground portion of Northeast Utilities' award-winning Middletown-Norwalk project. After working with Williams for three years, Newland recognized another great opportunity existed in New England, and approached his mentors about moving there to be program manager for the same client's $1.5 billion New England East-West Solutions (NEEWS) project.

In Newland's six years in New England, he helped Williams grow the office from one to 280 employees and saw increased profits each year. He was named vice president in January 2012 and became general manager of the Chicago office in September 2012.

"Scott exhibited great leadership and vision in his post in New England," says Paul Fischer, president, regional office group. "He's tremendously driven and results-oriented, and we see this move as a great opportunity for the firm as a whole."

Scott hopes to continue his success in Chicago by growing the group's T&D and Construction/Design-Build divisions, as well as expanding the office's existing experience in the environmental, transportation, aviation, energy, facilities and other fields.

Four moves and 14 years after his conversation with Pence, Newland has finally found a home to stay.

"Virginia was wonderful. I love Kansas City. Working with Brett and the extremely talented team in New England couldn't be better. And now I'm really excited about Chicago," Newland says. "As Walt Womack often says, ‘You must grow and increase profitability at the same time.' Chicago is up for the challenge."